Fitting a Built-In Wardrobe

This is another simple job for the home handyman. This wardrobe merely consists of a top fixed to the walls, at the sides and back, from which is hung a curtain at the front. Wardrobes of this sort, of course, can be made for children or adults simply by adjusting the height of the shelf.

A sectional drawing of the wardrobe is given in fig. 73. The top of the built-in wardrobe consists of a framework of 3-in. by 1-in. softwood, covered with a sheet of plywood or hardboard, and additional support is given across top by a middle rail fitted into the framework.

The size of the wardrobe top, of course, may be adjusted to fit the dimensions of the recess, and it may protrude from the front of the recess if it is a shallow one. The parts of the wardrobe are made and fitted separately into place. The back is made and fitted first; the ends of the back have a simple notched joint, as illustrated in fig. 73, so that the weight of the sides is also supported on the back rail. The back is secured to the wall by means of square-cut brads nailed firmly into the joints between courses of brick. Alternatively the back and side rails may be secured to the wall with 2-in. No. 8 screws, driven into wall-plugs.

The side pieces are made and fitted after the back rail has been secured to the wall. The back ends of the side rails are notched to rest into joints cut in the ends of the back rail. The front ends of the side rail are not jointed. Before fitting the side rails in position a hole should be drilled in each rail to take the ends of a bar, which is fitted for the suspension of coat-hangers. The bar may be a piece of 1/2-in.conduit piping, or a length of broom-handle. The bar should be cut to length and ends inserted in the holes in the side members before they are affixed to the wall with nails or screws. If the recess is a wide one a central rail should be fitted (as illustrated); this also should be drilled to take the hanger rail and notched to fit into the back rail. The front rail of the top of the wardrobe does not support any weight and it is screwed into the ends of the sides with No. 10, 2-1/2 -in. countersunk screws. The holes drilled through the ends of the front rail to take the screws should be countersunk.

With the framework fitted in position, the top is cut to size and attached. The front edge of the top of 1/8-in. thick hardboard or 4-mm. plywood is set slightly back from the forward edge of the front rail and both tip edges are slightly rounded with a smoothing-plane and glass-paper (fig. 73 right). The sheet of material for the top is secured to the framework with 1/2 -in. oval nails set about 3 in. to 4 in. apart and 1/8 in. from the edge of the material. When nailing the top to the front rail, the rail should be supported. The nail-heads should be punched just below the surface of the top. The back and side edges of the top are neatened by the addition of strips of moulding as shown in fig. 73 above.

The meeting corners of the moulding should be mitred; this is done by marking the position of the corner on the moulding, placing it in a mitre-box, and cutting through with a tenon-saw, the blade of which is guided by the slots cut in the side of the mitre-box. The front edges of the moulding may be neatened by shaping them as shown in fig. 73 above. The moulding is secured to the top with panel pins of a sensible length and the heads of the pins should be punched just below the surface of the wood. With this done the completed wardrobe top should be smoothed down with glass-paper, knotted, primed, undercoated and finished with a coat of hard gloss paint or enamel. The curtain at the front of the wardrobe may be suspended from a spiral curtain spring or curtain rail.